Scr3w the idea of taking pictures for profit

[sashbar]

I can imagine having funds to spend on expensive gear might help produce fine photographs, however, not being in such a financial position I am unable to put this to the test. I don't know whether or not any of my photos could be called fine, but my gear cost me considerably less than one thousand euros in total. Money isn't everything.

To my estimate, Fred, you need 356 USD, something unique and important to say, an all consuming desire to convey your message and a clear idea of how exactly to do it, and you will be producing fine photographs, that will trounce 99% of images what we see on the net. I can guarantee that.

 

[Designer]

I still can not get to grips with how inclusively the word "art" is being used in English.

Also "literature".

 

[photoguy99]

Are other languages more restrictive in their use of the word 'art'?

 

[rexbobcat]

I still can not get to grips with how inclusively the word "art" is being used in English.

Everything is art...apparently.

There was an artist recently who had an installation where he talks to people on a hookup app and then projects the conversations onto a big screen (with the faces of the people on app blurred out).

"Art"

 

[The_Traveler]

I'm not certain why the boundaries of art are an issue.
If someone wants to try to create, they may be bad artists and create bad art but, if it makes them happy and fulfilled, so be it.
I get an enormous amount of satisfaction (and angst) from trying to create.
In the long run, that's better for me than trying to be yet another cookie cutter wedding photographer.

 

[photoguy99]

Lew and I are in agreement. Several times in this thread.

Which can mean only one thing. APOCALYPSE.

 

[The_Traveler]

or you're finally wising up.

 

[photoguy99]

I did not find LeGuin's speech in the slightest elitist. She's simply suggesting that the industry would be well served by spending less time looking for commodities.

Rather than trying to write, and trying to find the writer who is writing, another vampire series, or zombies, or the 'next Harry Potter' or whatever, spend more effort on something new.

I'm sure that in his day there were people aping Dickens, and people publishing them. But the industry was not so maniacally focused on churning out thinly veiled copies of Bleak House. Dickens was not leaned upon to simply write David Copperfield over and over with minor changes.

Commodity is being read as more of a dirty wrote than perhaps she means. It's not that there's no place for sequels. It's just that there should be more room for genuinely new work.

Photography is subject to much more commidification. The whole point of wide areas of photography for money is to produce photos that look like those other ones. That too is OK.

What I object to is the idea that commodity photography is really the only good endpoint. I think photography has room for a much higher dose of commodity work than is really healthy for, say, fiction writing. But there's still not to photography than that.

Especially irritating is when the standards of commercial commodity photography are applied everywhere. 'Needs fill'

 

[Fred Berg]

I can imagine having funds to spend on expensive gear might help produce fine photographs, however, not being in such a financial position I am unable to put this to the test. I don't know whether or not any of my photos could be called fine, but my gear cost me considerably less than one thousand euros in total. Money isn't everything.

To my estimate, Fred, you need 356 USD, something unique and important to say, an all consuming desire to convey your message and a clear idea of how exactly to do it, and you will be producing fine photographs, that will trounce 99% of images what we see on the net. I can guarantee that.

356 USD?

 

[Forkie]

I still can not get to grips with how inclusively the word "art" is being used in English.

Everything is art...apparently.

There was an artist recently who had an installation where he talks to people on a hookup app and then projects the conversations onto a big screen (with the faces of the people on app blurred out).

"Art"

That's kind of the point of art, though.

Art is not simply oil paintings of aristocrats leaning on fireplaces or sculptures of religious figures. Art literally is all things to all people.

Why should the installation you mentioned not be considered art? It could be considered as a snapshot or portrait of people in a certain social situation or an observation of human interaction. That's what a portrait is. It's a capture of the character, personality or simply the appearance of a person - it's a study of people (or even animals, if you want to be all encompassing!). I see no reason why that has to be restricted to a painting, or a still image or even a moving image, for that matter. The "art" of conversation is a much coveted skill in these days of social media and anonymous communication.

 

[sashbar]

I can imagine having funds to spend on expensive gear might help produce fine photographs, however, not being in such a financial position I am unable to put this to the test. I don't know whether or not any of my photos could be called fine, but my gear cost me considerably less than one thousand euros in total. Money isn't everything.

To my estimate, Fred, you need 356 USD, something unique and important to say, an all consuming desire to convey your message and a clear idea of how exactly to do it, and you will be producing fine photographs, that will trounce 99% of images what we see on the net. I can guarantee that.

356 USD?

Too much?

 

[photoguy99]

Tino Sehgal is my go-to example of where art can go. He's worth thinking about pretty hard. After reading up on what he does, and (most likely) rapidly dismissing it as pretentious crud, ask yourself this:

"How does the experience Sehgal's work provides the art-appreciator/viewer/museum-goer actually differ from viewing Art As We Know It?"

it's not like you get to take the paintings home with you. What you have is an experience, and the memory of same.

 

[sashbar]

I see no reason why that has to be restricted to a painting, or a still image or even a moving image, for that matter. The "art" of conversation is a much coveted skill in these days of social media and anonymous communication.

Art is certainly not restricted to a painting, or a still image . The only thing it is restricted to is talent.

 

[rexbobcat]

I still can not get to grips with how inclusively the word "art" is being used in English.

Everything is art...apparently.

There was an artist recently who had an installation where he talks to people on a hookup app and then projects the conversations onto a big screen (with the faces of the people on app blurred out).

"Art"

That's kind of the point of art, though.

Art is not simply oil paintings of aristocrats leaning on fireplaces or sculptures of religious figures. Art literally is all things to all people.

Why should the installation you mentioned not be considered art? It could be considered as a snapshot or portrait of people in a certain social situation or an observation of human interaction. That's what a portrait is. It's a capture of the character, personality or simply the appearance of a person - it's a study of people (or even animals, if you want to be all encompassing!). I see no reason why that has to be restricted to a painting, or a still image or even a moving image, for that matter. The "art" of conversation is a much coveted skill in these days of social media and anonymous communication.

I never said it wasn't art...I was mostly just implying that it's really shitty art.

While my sister is over here creating a beautiful earth work thesis project (both conceptually and aesthetically) that she spent six months resourcing and putting together, the dude sharing the exhibit said screw it and had a leafblower pushing a receipt against a plate of glass.

10/10, most amazing arts, here's your Ph.D.

Just because everything is art doesn't mean I have to respect everything as art, especially if it's something that I could easily see on a classy, intellectual site like College Humor.

But then again, I also disagree with the postmodern idea that the artist statement has equal or more importance than the product. I'm a little old fashioned I guess.

 

[Forkie]

While my sister is over here creating a beautiful earth work thesis project (both conceptually and aesthetically) that she spent six months resourcing and putting together, the dude sharing the exhibit said screw it and had a leafblower pushing a receipt against a plate of glass.

...

But then again, I also disagree with the postmodern idea that the artist statement has equal or more importance than the product. I'm a little old fashioned I guess.

And a little biased, perhaps?